


Isn't Always Easy

by NakiaSwg



Series: Percy Jackson One Shots and Imagines [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Book 1: The Hidden Oracle (Trials of Apollo), Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Connor gets yelled at, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, How Do I Tag, I wrote this at 3am leave me alone, LOTS of Questions, One Shot, POV First Person, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Questions, apart from Sherman he gets no hugs, chb is horrible sometimes, does this count as bullying, im such a badass, masterpiece number 2, meg asks too many questions, no beta we die like jason grace, peaches is violent, yes this is based on my dr visualisations what about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29584041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NakiaSwg/pseuds/NakiaSwg
Summary: I slap Connor, yell at Sherman and answer Meg's questions.
Relationships: Apollo & Meg McCaffrey, Nico di Angelo & Meg McCaffrey, Original Female Character(s) & Meg McCaffrey
Series: Percy Jackson One Shots and Imagines [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2165865
Kudos: 6





	Isn't Always Easy

“Finally,” Chiron said, “we have a new demigod at camp — Meg McCaffrey!” She wiped sauce from around her mouth and rose.

From her place beside Meg, Alice Miyazawa said, “Stand up, Meg.”

Julia Feingold laughed.

At the Ares table, Sherman Yang stood. “Now _this_ one—this one deserves a special welcome. What do you think, Connor?”

Connor reached into his backpack. “I think maybe the canoe lake would suffice.”

Apollo attempted to warn Meg, but then all Hades broke loose. Sherman Yang strode toward Meg. Connor Stoll pulled out a golden net from his bag and threw it over her head. Meg cried out and tried to free herself, while some other campers chanted, “Dunk—her! Dunk— her!”

I had never felt more disgusted with my camp than I did at that moment.

Chiron did his best to calm them down: “Now, demigods, wait just one moment!”

I shouted, “No! That is enough!” and most people stopped and began to turn around, even Connor, but Sherman kept walking and so did the rest. If only Piper were here, but she and Jason are out looking for Leo. I would be too, but apparently I'm needed at camp since I'm the only person who can see anything to do with the future right now (the power of prophecy is broken, me and Rachel are working double time over IM to work out why and how to fix it).

Then, a loud howl interrupted their “welcoming” of Meg. From the top of the colonnade, a blur of chubby flesh, leafy wings, and linen diaper leaped downward and landed on Sherman Yang’s back, knocking him into the stone floor. I honestly would have laughed if it wasn’t for the thing that had caused the destruction. A karpos stood and wailed, beating his chest. His eyes glowed green with anger. It was very frightening. He threw himself at Connor, locked his plump legs around his neck, and began trying to pull Connor’s hair out of his scalp.

“Get it off!” Connor wailed, stumbling around the pavilion. “Get it off!” Other campers began to get over their shock, beginning to draw swords.

“ _C’è un karpos_!” Valentina shouted.

“Kill it!” said Alice.

Apollo cried out, “No!” I have no doubts that it would have been terrifying if he were still a god, but his voice cracked in the middle of the word, so he sounded like a thirteen year old boy going through puberty. I still don’t know why he was defending the karpos, but he rescued Meg from whatever Connor and Sherman were planning, so that’s a plus.

“Peaches, get off him!” Meg screamed. She untangled herself from the net, threw it onto the floor, then launched herself at Connor.

The karpos (Peaches??) jumped off Connor’s neck. He landed at Meg’s feet, baring his fangs and hissing at the other campers who had formed a loose semicircle with weapons drawn. I myself had my bow in my hands, but if that thing was defending Meg, he was probably alright.

“Meg get out of the way,” said Nico di Angelo, stepping forward cautiously. “That thing is dangerous.”

“No!” Meg’s voice was shrill. “Don’t hurt him!”

Sherman Yang rolled over, groaning. His face looked worse than it probably was — according to Will, cuts to the forehead produce a lot of blood without actually having any lasting effects —but the amount of blood just made the campers more determined. Kayla drew her bow and notched an arrow. Julia Feingold unsheathed a dagger.

I heard a quiet, “Wait!” from somewhere to my left, and figured it was probably Apollo.

Something none of us expected happened next. Julia charged. Kayla released her arrow.

Meg thrust out her hands and a faint gold light flashed. Suddenly she was holding two swords—each a curved blade made from imperial gold (I wondered faintly where she got them. Greeks don’t use imperial gold and I highly doubt she was at Camp Jupiter). They seemed to have appeared from nowhere, but considering my bow and Percy’s sword (also the fact that she was no longer wearing her rings), I assume they came from the two gold rings she wears.

Both her blades whirled. Meg disarmed Julia and swiped Kayla’s arrow out of the air in the blink of an eye.

“What the Hades?” Connor demanded. His hair had been pulled out in chunks so he looked like Evie’s younger sisters doll (long story). “Who _is_ she?”

Peaches crouched at Meg’s side, snarling, as Meg kept the other campers at bay with her swords.

“Look,” Apollo said, confusing all the campers. He pointed above Megs head. There was nothing there at first, but after a few moments, a rotating symbol appeared, a holographic golden sickle with a few sheaves of wheat.

A boy in the crowd gasped. “She’s a communist!” Honestly, sometimes campers can be so dense.

A girl who’d been sitting at Cabin Four’s table gave him a disgusted sneer. “No, Damien, that’s my mom’s symbol.” Her face went slack as the truth sank in. “Uh, which means...it’s _her_ mom’s symbol.”

“My friend is no longer unclaimed,” Apollo declared.

The other demigods knelt in respect (or out of necessity).

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Apollo said, his voice as bitter as Chiron’s tea (don’t tell him I said that), “please give it up for Meg McCaffrey, daughter of Demeter.”

After the shock of the claiming wore off, Miranda Gardiner took Meg for a tour of their cabin, while I had a little chat with Connor.

I slapped him so hard that his cheek turned red instantly, and his head was thrown to the side. No regrets.

“What the heck Connor? What is wrong with you?”

“Oi! Don’t kill me, it was Sherman’s idea.” I believed him, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to pass up a chance to yell at him.

“I don’t care whose idea it was! That was seriously dangerous! How long were you planning to leave her down there?”

“We uh, we didn’t plan that far. Not too long though, only a couple of minutes!”

“That’s enough to cause serious brain damage! Especially with how heavy that net was, she probably would have sunk to the bottom. You’d better apologise to her, or I will make you.”

“We were counting on your water powers! You probably would have created an air bubble or something.”

“That’s not the point! What if I had left dinner early and nobody noticed? How were you even planning on pulling her back up? None of you can see underwater.”

“Look, Nakia, I’m sorr-“

“I’m not the one you should be apologising to.”

“Let me finish. I’m sorry I even went along with the stupid idea in the first place, I just really miss Travis and was looking for an excuse to take my frustration out on somebody.”

“Two things. That’s not an excuse, and I’m still not the one you should be apologising to, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about your hair.”

“Eh it’s fine, one of the Aphrodite kids will probably grow it back for me.” I ruffled his hair (or what was left of it) slapped him around the head one last time and stepped out of the Hermes cabin, walking into a very angry Sherman Yang.

“Jackson.”

“I have a name, you know. What do you want, I have places to be,” I folded my arms and looked up at him expectantly.

He’s like a foot taller than me, but I think I intimidated him, which is fine by me since I really don’t like bullies.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but nobody is gonna stop me from getting my revenge on Meg.”

“Well then it’s a good thing I’m not nobody. If you hurt that kid, you’re gonna have to answer to me, well, after her and the karpos. And I can promise you one thing – it’s not gonna be pretty.”

He gulped, but then glared at me and turned on his heel before stalking away.

“Meg, you can come out now.” She peeked her head around the side of Hermes cabin, then walked up the stairs to stand in front of me on the porch. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, “How did you know I was there?”

“Two wars and a lot of people trying to get dirt on me,” I winked, “Perks of popularity.”

Meg started to laugh, but caught herself and took a step back. “Why were you defending me? We don’t even know each other. And why was that dude so scared of you, he’s like a foot taller. And why were you yelling and that guy I poked in the eye? And why weren’t you scared of Peaches? And was it you who told everyone to stop before they threw me in the lake? And-" I don’t think she took a breath once.

“Meg calm down. To answer your questions, I was defending you because it was the right thing to do. Nobody deserves to be thrown in the canoe lake, especially on their first day. Sherman is scared of me because he knows I can kick his ass in ten seconds flat, I wasn’t a leading commander in two wars for nothing. I was yelling at Connor, that’s the guy who you poked, because he normally doesn’t pull stunts like that, I mean ones that can seriously injure people, and I was angry that he went along with it. Peaches might be a karpos,” I shuddered, ”but he clearly wants to protect you, and you seem like a good judge of character, so he can’t be that bad.”

“You were a leading commander in two wars?”

“Out of everything I just said, that’s what you choose to focus on?” I shook my head and laughed, “I didn’t get to where I am now by sitting at camp for 5 years. It isn’t always easy for me, you know. For a solid two years half of this camp hated me and ignored me.”

“But you’re so popular now. How come they didn’t like you?”

“That’s another story for another day. It’s almost curfew, and I doubt you want to be eaten by the patrol harpies.” I watched her walk back to her cabin, just in time for Miranda to shut the door, and smiled before jogging across the green to my own sea stone cabin.

While I was getting changed, something on the wall glinted. Percy’s minotaur horn. He gave it to me before he left camp, so I wouldn’t forget him. I told him that I would visit but he insisted I keep it, which was fine by me because it looks cool. That’s the only reason. The _only_ reason. I definitely didn’t miss him or anything.

 _Anyway_ , that horn was a reminder to never stop fighting for the ones you love. Because like I told Meg, life as a demigod isn’t always easy.


End file.
